Hearts have confirmed the appointment of Wouter Vrancken as their new head coach.
The 47-year-old Belgian joins as a free agent, having recently left Sint-Truiden after guiding them to a third-placed finish in the Belgian top flight.
The Belgian succeeds Derek McInnes, who moved to Rangers after coming within minutes of leading Hearts to the William Hill Premiership title.
The two-time Belgian manager of the year has signed a two-year contract. Vrancken has never previously managed outside of his homeland, but has accepted the challenge to move to Scotland, with Hearts aiming to prove they can compete with Celtic and Rangers again next season.
Hearts led the Scottish Premiership for the majority of last season with McInnes at the helm, and were a point clear of Celtic heading into the final game of the campaign at Celtic Park.
They took the lead in the title-deciding clash through Lawrence Shankland, but conceded an equaliser from the penalty spot in first half stoppage time and then could not keep Martin O’Neill’s side at bay in the second half.
Celtic scored two late goals to seal a 3-1 victory and the title, and there was a mass pitch invasion following the third goal that came deep into added time.
Hearts hit out at the “shameful” scenes, while there were also claims that the game had not officially finished when the fans ran onto the pitch.
The SPFL later confirmed that referee Don Robertson ended the game when some Celtic fans invaded the pitch in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
There were 30 seconds of injury time remaining when Celtic’s Callum Osmand finished into an empty net to effectively seal the title, with Hearts requiring two goals.
However, the Hearts players were taken off the pitch for their safety when hundreds of Celtic players flooded the pitch in celebration, with some confronting the visiting players.
The game did not restart, with Celtic crowned champions, but the SPFL has confirmed that referee Robertson communicated that the match was over and it had not been abandoned.
“Firstly, we send our congratulations to Celtic on winning the Premiership in the most exciting of circumstances and send our commiserations to everyone at Heart of Midlothian following an incredible campaign,” a statement said.
“We would also like to thank the referee and his excellent team of match officials for their cool heads on such a dramatic day. Given the speculation about the conclusion of the game, we would like to make clear that, prior to awarding the trophy, we were informed by the match referee that the match had ended and had not been abandoned.”
